Wasserman’s State of the County Speech Highlights Social Services, Healthcare

Supervisor Mike Wasserman, recently installed as president of the Board of Supervisors, delivered his State of the County speech on Tuesday.

The stink of ex-Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. has dissipated, and Santa Clara County is focused on a fresh start for 2014.

“Scandal is no longer in the air,” Supervisor Ken Yeager said after Tuesday’s State of the County speech, delivered by recently sworn-in Board President Mike Wasserman. “We certainly spent most of last year changing and improving public outreach and creating much more transparency than there was before.”

Nearly every single expenditure policy has been revised since Shirakawa was found to have stolen taxpayer and campaign funds. He’s now in jail, and the Board has made a point of moving forward in a more transparent manner. In August, supervisors made their calendars public for the first time.

Wasserman’s address mainly focused on the county’s role as a safety net for the most vulnerable, while also highlighting the little-known services it provides for residents.

“When I was elected to the Board of Supervisors I did not have a full appreciation for the number of lives we touch daily,” Wasserman said, adding that his mother’s life was saved by county paramedics last summer when she collapsed in her home and was rushed to the hospital for emergency brain surgery.

“This was just one example of a 9-1-1 call, and a life saved by county employees,” he said.

The county answers 400,000 emergency calls a year. Valley Medical Center and affiliated clinics receive 840,000 patient visits. Last year, 4,000 babies were delivered and 55,000 people immunized by county medical.

“These stories are just a glimpse of what our county does daily,” he said.